Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, on Tuesday, said it is not within the statutory rights of any Nigerian president to pardon convicts jailed as a result of corrupt practices.
Falana made specific references to Buhari’s recent move to pardon about two state governors after being proven guilty and jailed for their corrupt escapades.
Vanguard reports that in April 2022, President Buhari pardoned Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye – former governors of Taraba and Plateau states, respectively.
Messrs Nyame and Dariye were convicted of stealing billions of naira from their states. Their conviction had been affirmed by the Supreme Court and they were still serving their jail time when Mr Buhari granted them a pardon last year.
He spoke during his keynote presentation, on Tuesday, at the 29th Anti-Corruption Situation Room, organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA, Resource Centre, which had anti-graft activists from across the country in attendance, in Abuja.
Buttressing his position, Mr Falana cited Section 175 of the Constitution which empowers the president to grant clemency to persons convicted of federal offences.
But, he argued: “Even though the president has the power to grant pardon, it cannot be extended to people who have been convicted of corruption.”
The constitutional lawyer, however, decried the abuse of the power of the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, to discontinue a criminal case in the public interest.
He said the AGF, exercising his power under Section 174 (3) of the constitution, may take over a case to continue or discontinue it in the public interest.
He urged judges to aim at substantial justice rather than giving in to technicalities in striking out corruption suits.
“A judge is supposed to look at the justice of a case, and not strike them out on technical grounds”, he said.
Stating that the fight against corruption in Nigeria is not a choice but a must, the executive secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Prof. Sadiq Isah Radda, urged all stakeholders employed to combat corruption to intensify their efforts.
“I have also said that fighting corruption in Nigeria by Nigerians is not a choice, it is a necessity. As a committee we have done a lot and we have been fighting Corruption since 2015 till date and we have always said that we have kept corruption busy but corruption has kept us busier. But, there is no going back because if you must improve the lives of Nigerians you must intensify the fight against corruption.
“There are indicators that state that if we do what is right, institutes, ministries, departments and agencies of Government like JAMB, customs, Immigration and others so all these organisations can fight corruption so long as we put the right people”, he said.
On his part, the Chairman, HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, urged anti-graft agencies to be part of the centre to expand the scope of their activities and understand the need for investigation and prosecution.
He said: “We would like to call on all the anti-graft agencies to be part of this process which has been the usual standard for us, for them to expand the scope of their activities and to understand the need for prosecution regulation and to go beyond just money stolen or money diverted but to see the fundamental right to provision of the Constitution of the African charter to become part of the charges for people who have betrayed the trust of the people in occupation of public office.”
VANGUARD
